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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
Chapter 10: Hallowe'en
(For the romanisation of Chinese and Japanese, see Transliteration. To understand the writing systems of CJV, see Writing Systems. For word order notes, see Word Order)
Where a Vietnamese word has been borrowed from Chinese, the original Chinese characters are shown in parentheses.
| Chinese (Mainland) | 万圣节前夜 Wànshèng-jié qiányè |
万圣节
wànshèng-jié = 'ten-thousand saints festival' = 'all-saints day'. 前夜 qiányè = 'previous night'. |
Hallowe'en |
| Chinese (Taiwan) | 萬聖節驚魂 Wànshèng-jié jīnghún |
萬聖節
wànshèng-jié = 'ten-thousand saints festival'. 驚魂 jīnghún = 'shock-the-soul' = 'fear, shock, horror'. |
Hallowe'en horror |
| Japanese | ハロウィーン Harowiin |
ハロウィーン Harowiin = 'Hallowe'en'. | Hallowe'en |
| Vietnamese | Lễ hội ma Haloween | lễ hội
(禮會?) = 'festival'.
ma (魔) = 'ghost'. Haloween (pronunciation: Ha-lô-guyn). |
Hallowe'en ghost festival |
Halloween is becoming a world-wide event. The translation in each case tends to represent the perceived familiarity with Halloween of each culture.
In Japan Halloween is already well known under its English name, ハロウィーン Harowiin in Japanese transcription.
In Chinese cities it's becoming popular for hotels and bars to celebrate American-style Hallowe'en as 萬聖節 / 万圣节 wànshèng-jié 'ten-thousand holy festival', a literal translation of 'All Saints Festival' or 'All Hallows'. This naming is not totally accurate because 'Hallowe'en' is actually the day before All Saints' Day, which in Chinese would be 万圣节前夜 Wànshèng-jié qiányè 'All Saints Day Previous Night'. Hallowe'en in China is sometimes also called 鬼節 / 鬼节 guǐjié 'ghosts' festival' in Chinese, borrowing the name of a traditional Chinese festival of a similar nature. (For more on the background of Western Hallowe'en, see here.)
The Mainland translator, who depends mainly on dictionaries, is scrupulously accurate, translating Hallowe'en as 'All Saints Eve'. The Taiwanese translator follows the less accurate but more popular usage, translating Hallowe'en as 萬聖節 wànshèng-jié ('All Saints' Festival').
The Taiwanese translator also dramatises the title, changing it into 'Hallowe'en Horror'. The word 驚魂 / 惊魂 jīnghún 'fear, shock, horror' is apt to be used in newspaper headlines precisely where sensationalist English-language newspapers would use 'shock', 'horror', or 'nightmare'. 驚魂 jīnghún is also common in movie titles, the classic example being Psycho, generally known in Chinese as 驚魂記 / 惊魂记 Jīnghún-jì ('Chronicle of Fear').
The Vietnamese translator uses the English word 'Haloween' but feels obliged to explain to readers that it is the 'ghosts' festival'. (The pronunciation Ha-lô-guyn is not actually footnoted until Book 2. The 'g' is a rough throaty sound, not an English 'g').
(A summary of this chapter can be found at Harry Potter Facts. Detailed notes on the chapter can be found at Harry Potter Lexicon)
 Chapter 9 |
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